Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021, Semi-final 1, Tamil Nadu vs Hyderabad: Preview, Fantasy Tips, Likely XIs

Defending champions Tamil Nadu will face Hyderabad on 20 November in the first semi-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.

Having won five out of five games in the competition, Hyderabad topped in Group E to book a place in the quarter-final. After that, they beat Gujarat by 30 runs to advance to the semi-final.

Tilak Varma starred with bat in that contest, scoring a 50-ball 75 to help Hyderabad reach 158/5 after they were asked to bat. Chama Milind and Ravi Teja then shared five wickets to restrict Gujarat to 128/8.

In the first quarter-final, Tamil Nadu chased 182 against Kerala with five wickets in hand in the last over. They will rely on Vijay Shankar, Shahrukh Khan and Narayan Jagadeesan among batters, while M. Ashwin will lead the spin-heavy bowling attack. Hyderabad, on the other hand, will hope Tanmay Agarwal, the leading run-scorer of the competition, and Milind, the leading wicket-taker of the competition, step up again to progress their side to the final.

Likely XIs

Tamil Nadu: Hari Nishanth, N. Jagadeesan (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar (c), Shahrukh Khan, Sanjay Yadav, M. Mohammed, M. Ashwin, R. Sai Kishore, P. Saravana Kumar, Sandeep Warrier.

Hyderabad: Tanmay Agarwal (c), Pragnay Reddy (wk), Tilak Varma, Himalay Agarwal, B. Sandeep, Rahul Buddhi, T. Ravi Teja, Tanay Thyagarajan, Chama Milind, Rakshann Readdi, Mehdi Hassan.

Betway Fantasy Tips

• Back Tamil Nadu. Make Shankar and Shahrukh captain and vice-captain respectively.
• Among bowlers, pick Milind, Warrier, Ravi Teja and Ashwin.

Fantasy XI

Tanmay Agarwal, Tilak Varma, Hari Nishanth, Pragnay Reddy, N Jagadeesan, Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, Ravi Teja, Chama Milind, Sandeep Warrier, Murugan Ashwin.